


A Different Kind of Hell

by silmarilz1701



Series: The Airequalmë aka The Divine Tragedy [3]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Airequalme, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Falas, Falathrim, Family Drama, Flight of the Noldor, Kinslaying, Oath of Fëanor, Quenya Names, Romance, Silmarils, Sindarin, Spoilers for The Silmarillion, The Divine Comedy, Time Skips, Tragedy, but rEVERSED
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-27 21:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16710607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silmarilz1701/pseuds/silmarilz1701
Summary: Third story in the Airequalmë Silmarillion series following A Different Kind of Heaven and A Different Kind of Purgatory.***The Unlight covered Valinor in total darkness. Even when the Unlight passed, the elves had only the stars to guide them. Fëanáro intends to use his title as King to exact revenge on the fallen Vala, Morgoth, who has murdered his father and stolen the precious Silmarils, the only remaining source of hallowed light. Eve and her husband Findekáno travel together back to the other lands... but what will they find there?Eve was once of the world of Earth but for hundreds of years has lived among the elves. She has married Findekáno, prince of the Noldor, and become a sister to the House of Fëanáro. In Beleriand she will find death, tragedy, and despair...but maybe happiness too.***BASED ON A REVERSAL OF DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY - INFERNO***Part Three of the AirequalmëBegins Year of the Trees 1495





	A Different Kind of Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to hell, ladies and gents. In your trip to this lovely Inferno you will see death, life, angst, tragedy, kingship and queenship, brotherly love... And kinslayings of course.
> 
> The book has been outlined! Right now we're looking at about 80 chapters, so don't expect them ALL to be 2500+ words. That's unrealistic. They will all be at least 1300 though. I'll never go lower than that. This will stretch from, well, now... Until the end of the War of Wrath. Whether or not Eve makes it that far, I won't say. After all, there are plenty of characters to focus on.
> 
> This also will have the perspective limited by the fact that most of it is Eve, Finno, or a couple others. They don't really interact with, say, Lúthien.
> 
> But of course... Everything will be made apparent in due time. I hope I surprise you though. I really do.
> 
> So how "hellish" will this be... The naming system "A Different Kind of Hell" comes from my original inspiration for the entire series, Dante's Divine Comedy. As the DC started in Inferno, proceeded to Purgatorio, and ended in Paradiso, this is a reversal. It started in Paradiso (A Different Kind of Heaven), proceeded to Purgatorio (A Different Kind of Purgatory), and is now concluding in Inferno (A Different Kind of Hell). Therefore as opposed to a Divine COMEDY, it's a Divine TRAGEDY (hence The Airequalmë - Holy Agony in Quenya).
> 
> So without further ado, I present...

**1495**

**Years of the Trees**

* * *

 

Screams filled the air when Findekáno's host rounded the final corner to Alqualondë on their way up the coast. Confusion reigned. Eve looked around, trying to find out what was happening. Before long it became obvious. The Falmari were trying to stop them.

Immediately drawing his sword, Finno rushed into the fight. He would not stand by while his family was at risk. All the elves with him joined in, wielding their bright swords. Eve followed, drawing her tindalta sword. But she didn't intend to use it unless absolutely necessary.

The sound of battle made Eve sick. She swung her sword and stabbed a Falmar through the stomach, causing scarlet liquid to spray onto her clothes. Her stomach turned. Eve tried her best to stay near her husband, but she knew that wouldn't last.

"Finno!" came a shout to their right.

Nelyo. His red hair wrapped around his face from the exertion he'd been putting out. Blood splattered his face and sword. Elven blood.

The tide turned almost instantly with the overwhelming force that Findekáno's host brought. The murmur that the Falmari had betrayed them, seeking to halt them in the name of the Valar, echoed through the ranks. Fury coursed through the Noldor yet again. Anger as fiery as Arien herself overtook their better judgement. With their bows, the Falmari stood little chance.

With well-aimed swings of her sword, Eve defended herself. She didn't want to take lives, but she would if needed. And indeed, more than a few Falmari fell from her sword strokes. With her blade, she wove through the ranks of Falmari like tearing parchment. Their bows were useless in close quarters with so many. The noise of bodies falling into the ocean sounded like drum beats.

Eve cried as she fought. Her favorite paintings had always been of Alqualondë. Now the land she'd found so beautiful had been drenched in blood. But she forced herself not to think about it. Just do her duty. Protect her family. The Falmari were enemies, they were trying to kill her brothers. They couldn't happen.

Suddenly a new force of Falmari tried to push back. Eve, close to the buildings, noticed a few children cowering in a street corner, silver hair stained dark with blood. Her heart sank as she looked around and then moved towards them. They shrieked, scrambling away from her.

"It's okay," she assured them immediately. Glancing to her sword, she decided to put it away. "Here. See. No sword."

They eyed her suspiciously but stopped hurrying away. One of them, a boy who looked no older than eight of her own Earth years, moved himself in front of the two girls. When Eve extended her hand, crouching down, he moved forward and took it. But as she turned to lead them out of the trap against the wall, they screamed again and she felt a furious burning sensation in her right leg. The children ran away, and Eve stood in shock at the Falmar elf before her. Sticking out of her leg were three birchwood arrows, the metal tips dug deep into her skin. Pure hatred crossed his face as he rushed at her with another three arrows notched.

Eve braced herself, too shocked to draw her sword. For a moment she wondered if she'd see Sophia and Christopher and all her friends from her old life when she died. A small smile set on her face at that thought. As the elven sailor drew back his bow and aimed for her heart, she closed her eyes. But a sharp shout drew her from her resolve to die. A blonde elf, clothed in greens and bronze armor, had pushed the man over and snapped his bow in half. Tyelko.

Eve dropped to her knees out of a mix of emotions: surprise, terror, pain, anger. Tyelko took one look at her, fear written all over his face and shouted for someone as he stabbed her attacker through the stomach. Huan bounded around the corner into the alleyway and Eve grabbed onto his neck as he laid down for support to keep from toppling over. Tyelko wielded his blade skillfully, holding off and slaying the small band of Falmari who had heard the screaming children and rushed to help them.

"Huan I'm scared," she gasped through tears as she held him. "Huan please!"

The hound whined in response. He nuzzled her and didn't move, allowing her to slump into him as blood continued to seep from her thigh. Tyelko shouted again, and this time Findekáno rounded the corner. He shouted something back at his half cousin. Then he rushed over to Eve, sheathing his sword and hoisting her up from Huan's support.

"We need to take her to the ships," Tyelko barked at Finno. "She cannot walk."

Finno nodded. "Agreed."

As he carried her through the bloodied streets and docks of Alqualondë, her circlet came loose. The last thing she remembered before passing out was the sight of her circlet sitting in a pool of Telerin blood accompanied by the shrieks of dying men and women.

Finno watched as she passed out and cursed the Valar and the Falmari. He cursed the name of Morgoth, and cursed himself for ever letting her out of his sight. Eve knew how to fight, he'd made sure of that, as had Nelyo. He wasn't sure how a single archer had caused her difficulty. She should've managed well enough.

With Tyelko at his front and Huan at his back, Finno made his way to where Fëanáro's hosts had begun to man the ships. He frowned for a moment, wondering why that was their focus, but brushed it aside. If the Falmari had sought to stop them by the Valar's orders, it meant their ships were a fair prize after the battle. At least, that's what he told himself. At the edge, Finno caught sight of Pityo. The redhead gasped at Eve's limp form.

"Bring her here," he ordered quickly. "We shall keep her safe, cousin."

As he hurried up the plank into the swan ship, he looked back briefly. His people had successfully routed the Falmari traitors back higher into the city. The battle was won - for now - and his people needed guidance. He had to find his family, especially his father.

"Watch over her," Finno ordered to the elder twin. "I will be back for her once we get far from here."

But Eve drifted into consciousness. "Finno," she said breathlessly as she lay in pain, being seen to by Telvo. "Please!"

But Finno frowned. He knelt beside his wife and took her hand. With a soft kiss to her right palm, he placed it back over her heart. "I will not be long, but now I am always with you. Never forget that."

She drifted away again and Finno stood. He turned to the twins. "She is in your care now. Do not make me regret my decision."

"Do not forget, Findekáno, she is our sister." Pityo reminded him quickly, biting back an angry remark to go with it.

After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. Finno bounded down the plank and gathered up his house. There weren't enough boats for everyone, and the House of Fëanáro had already claimed them. So they began to follow the coast North.

A particularly large wave rocked the boat that carried Eve. Telvo knelt beside her and tied off her wounds after removing the arrowheads. He grimaced as the waves shook the boat. "Pityo! Steady!"

"Shut your mouth, Telvo," retorted the other. "I am doing my best."

Eve cried out again. She grabbed Telvo's left hand and he sent her small, hopeful smile. "Peace, sister. You will be fine." He scrambled around inside a pack that lay with many others by the side of the boat. He dug through it and pulled out some salves. "This is going to hurt."

Eve was about to respond when a massive wave came crashing onto the deck, spraying salt in her mouth. She sputtered and coughed, screaming because of the salt water now seeping into her wounds.

Telvo looked around frantically. "Pityo!"

"Brother this is not me!" gasped his twin. "The sea is awake."

Telvo grabbed Eve, shielding her with his body as another massive wave crashed into them. The boat staggered in the water, but continued North. As Pityo struggled against the ship wheel, Telvo focused on calming Eve. Her body heaved with sobs. He could tell she was panicking.

"I hate the ocean," she gasped when their boat tossed again and Telvo grabbed her tight. "It's terrifying. Don't let me drown. Please, Telvo!"

The elf grabbed her hands. "Never. We are not going to drown, Eve." He picked her up and brought her closer to the middle, nearly dropping her because of the heaving waves of Uinen's tears. "Here. You are not going to drown. Finno would murder us."

"Finno." She breathed in harshly through her tears as Telvo set to finishing his work on her wounds. Eve took her right hand and lay it over her heart. It reminded her of the book 'The Kissing Hand' she had read as a child. She had Finno with her, always. "Finno stay safe."

The boat crashed again, this time into a wave twice the height of the ship itself. Telvo covered Eve as best he could, but both coughed and sputtered water, gasping for breath when it passed. Her eyes stung like they were being stabbed by tiny sewing needles, and her leg was seeping blood from her wounds. Telvo cursed under his breath.

"You have to get us through this, Pityo!" He roared at his brother as the boat continued to rock. He scrambled up and over to his twin at the helm. "Eve is weak. She will not be able to walk for a very long time, I fear. So keep the boat in tact. She would never be able to swim to safety."

Pityo gritted his teeth and clenched the wheel tighter. "We will survive."

As the waves crashed around them, Telvo was thrown to the side. He cried out in pain as he slammed into the ship beams. He vaguely heard Pityo apologize, but he worried more about getting to Eve. He side screamed in agony.

"Eve, are you alright?" He knelt beside her and realized she was unconscious. "Oh for the love of..." Trailing off, Telvo gathered her up and brought her as close to the front as he could without getting in the way. He hoped the gigantic swan at the prow would shield her from some of the waves.

Pityo glanced back. "How is she?"

"Wet, and injured," Telvo muttered. "But I've stopped the bleeding. She should survive."

Eventually the ocean calmed. One of the other ten elves on the ship with the twins took over for Pityo. He bent over Eve and Telvo, looking her wound over. "Good work, Ambarussa."

"She'll be alright," replied Telvo, sitting against the main mast with his leg propped up. He laid his head back against the wood and sighed. "Touch and go for a while back there." He turned to his brother. "You did well."

Pityo scoffed. "Yes. Well, I did my best under trying circumstances." He looked over at the woman steering the ship. "How many others can you see?"

"I've counted fifty-seven ships, including ours, my lord," she replied. "We had about seventy-five to begin with. The storm took its toll."

Nodding, he walked back over to the wheel. "Keep us headed north. Follow my father's flag." He pointed to where they could see a flag had been tied to the top of a mast, likely a cape from one of his followers. "Likely we'll make landfall in the next few days to regroup."

"Yes, my lord."

Eve woke up an hour later. Her head pounded, and her leg hurt so bad she couldn't move it. At first she made no sound, content to just feel the rocking of the ship. Telvo sat beside her, staring off into the distance. But when memories of what she'd done came flooding back to her, she started hyperventilating.

"I killed people," she whispered. "I.. I killed people. I slaughtered them!" She tried to sit up, and the world spun. Her arm warmed where Telvo grabbed her. But she shook her head. "No. No, no, no. Telvo I killed people."

"We all did," he murmured. "All of us. They did, too. We don't know who started the fight."

Eve felt tears streaming down her face. She turned to her youngest brother. In his pale grey eyes she saw reflected the same guilt she was experiencing. An anger glassed them over. But She could see the guilt.

Even as she spoke, a great voice boomed overhead. She thought, perhaps, that Mandos himself had come. When he spoke, all cowered.

"Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanáro the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also."

Eve watched Telvo's expression darken in the evernight. Pityo came up beside them. An equally bitter and saddened expression settled on his face.

"Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be forever."

Telvo and Pityo exchanged glances, and then they turned to those around them. Every looked unsettled at the prospect of betrayal. But Eve just lay back, letting pain overtake her in her misery.

"Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye maybe, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos."

Both Pityo and Telvo looked to Eve. She remained with her eyes closed. And yet even so, tears pooled and dripped from them. She could not fathom her actions.

"There long shall ye abide, and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure upon Middle-Earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken."

Eve cried out suddenly, in pain and grief. As Tevlo knelt beside her, she murmured an ultimatum. "What have we done."

**Author's Note:**

> Part way through this story, we will be transitioning to SINDARIN names. As such, I am providing this key. The first name will be the primary name used during the first two books. The second is the nickname. The third is the Sindarin.
> 
> FËANORIANS:
> 
> Fëanáro - none - Fëanor
> 
> Nelyafinwë - Nelyo - Maedhros
> 
> Kánafinwë - Káno - Maglor
> 
> Tyelkormo - Tyelko - Celegorm
> 
> Morifinwë - Moryo - Caranthir
> 
> Curufinwë - Curvo - Curufin
> 
> \- Telperinquar - Tyelpe - Celebrimbor
> 
> Telufinwë - Telvo - Ambarussa - Amrod
> 
> Pityafinwë - Pityo - Ambarussa - Amras
> 
> FINGOLFINIANS:
> 
> Nolofinwë - Nolo - Fingolfin
> 
> Findekáno - Finno - Fingon
> 
> \- Artaráno - Teldano - Teldo - Gil-Galad
> 
> Turukáno - Turvo - Turgon
> 
> \- Itarillë - Itaril - Idril
> 
> Irissë - Iri - Aredhel
> 
> \- Maeglin
> 
> Arakáno - Aro - Argon
> 
> FINARFINIANS:
> 
> Arafinwë - none - Finarfin
> 
> Findaráto - Findo - Finrod Felagund
> 
> Angaráto - Ango - Angrod
> 
> \- Artaresto - Arto - Orodreth
> 
> \- Finduilas - Fin
> 
> Aikanáro - Aiko - Aegnor
> 
> Artanis - Nis - Galadriel
> 
> \- Celebrían
> 
> THEN THERE'S EVE:
> 
> Eve's Epessë(Q): Elmendë meaning Wonder
> 
> Eve's Epessë (S): Enweril meaning Awe/Wonder


End file.
